It’s Mateo’s birthday today. I can’t believe my baby is now two years old! It still feels like just a few months ago when Ramil and I were newbie parents on our own, playing mama and dada in our rented Taytay house. I’m so happy with how he’s growing. So bibo, so daldal. He’s such an independent thinker already that it’s a joy talking to him.

Just the other day, we were watching Mamma Mia and I got teary-eyed during the scene where Meryl Streep was helping her daughter prepare for the wedding. The scene was so sentimental, the music melancholic. It made me realize how fast kids grow and that I dare not take my eyes off Mateo for fear that I’m going to miss something important. I’d sometimes get this ‘awwww’ feeling everytime I watch him sleeping. As early as now, I am unashamedly admitting that I might become one of those mothers trying to discreetly wipe flowing tears the day their son gets married. But that’s in the far future. I still have to deal with the first barkada, the first date, the first girlfriend, and all the other firsts that would slowly but surely change him from being my son to being his own man.

I don’t even have a gift for him except for a trip to Manila Ocean Park on Saturday. Despite my desire to give him a lot of things as gifts, nothing seems worth giving that would be a good enough approximation of how much I love him. Well, that and the fact that Ramil and I vow to be on an even tighter budget this year. Nevertheless, gift or no gift, I hope he feels how much he is loved. With every tender caress, with every sticky kiss, with every diaper changed, with every second that I nurse him, with every big hug, with every reprimand, with every stern look or controlled angry words. With everything that’s lovingly done for him.

So to my son, thank you. Life is so much more wonderful because of you.